The Block Island Inshore Fishing Tournament ended Sunday with a winning striped bass measuring 51 inches caught by team Frayed Not led by Capt. Richard Lipsitz of North Kingstown.

Over 90 anglers participated in the two day event. Capt. Chris Willi of Block Island Fishworks, tournament host, said, “We doubled the number of anglers we had last year, and with a matching grant for Capt. Nick’s Rock & Roll Bar, we were able to make a $4,350 contribution to the Block Island Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department.” Capt. Willi said, “Thanks to Ørsted (owners of the Block Island Wind Farm) and their sponsorship of the Tournament we were able to donate 100 percent of Tournament fees to the Fire & Rescue Department.”

Over $10,000 in prizes, gift cards and tournament swag were awarded at the “After Party” which took place at Capt. Nick’s Rock & Roll Bar, Block Island on Sunday at 2 p.m. There was a three way tie for first place team between teams Frayed Knot, Green Mountain Boys and Grateful 5.  Block Island Fishworks and Ørsted agreed to award each of the teams a $500 Visa gift card.

The tournament included shore, fly fishing, youth and boat divisions. Striped bass and bluefish for all divisions plus black sea bass and fluke for boat and youth divisions. Also a team prize with photo division prizes taken with the Block Island Wind Farm in background were awarded for best fish, scenic and team photos.

Tournament co-sponsors included The Saltwater Edge, Middletown; Ocean State Tackle, Providence; Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown; and Watch Hill Outfitters, Westerly.

Visit www.SandyPointCo.com/bi-inshore-tourney for Tournament results.

Summit sets table for strategic plan

Last week NOAA Fisheries and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (which regulates fisheries coastwide in State waters within the three mile limit), released the final report from the 2022 National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Summit. The Summit garners stakeholder input that is used to direct NOAA’s strategic planning for recreational fishing the next five years.

The two day meeting brought together over 175 recreational anglers, managers, scientists and industry representatives to discuss important recreational issues including climate change, balancing ocean uses (fishing, offshore wind and marine aquaculture), data and management.

The Summit report did a good job documenting key discussions. However, the report fell short in taking the input, particularly the cross-cutting themes common in all four topic sessions, and converting them to major initiatives to reinvigorate and update NOAA procedure, process and policy agendas for recreational fishing to make it climate ready.

The four cross-cutting themes noted are the Human Dimension; Shifting Data Needs; Tradeoffs in Management, Conservation, and Opportunity Management (flexibility); and Community Engagement and Trust.

For example under the umbrella theme of moving forward with a new appreciation for the “human dimension” one would think we (as a recreational fishing community) need to differentiate ourselves from commercial fishing in that the driving force is not to catch and kill fish necessarily, the intrinsic value of fishing, the opportunity of caching a fish all leading to the desire to grow fisheries to abundance so there are more of them in the water for all of us to catch, eat and/or release. So no major plan to communicate and foster an understanding of this human dimension was laid out in preliminary action items.

The biggest need not addressed is the development of a plan for our nation’s recreational fisheries to become climate ready. NOAA does relate it will undertake an extensive review of the 2015 National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy with the aim of issuing an updated policy in 2023.

Where’s the bite?

Striped bass and bluefish. Elisa Cahill of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown, said, “The striped bass bite at Block Island and along the southern coastal shore is very good. Anglers are catching large bass above the slot size (28 to less than 35 inches).” Eels, jigging with wire on the troll, and trolling tube & worm and umbrella rigs are all working. Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters, said, “The reefs off Westerly are loaded with large bass. Anglers are continue to catch fish of all sizes using eels.” 

“Customers continue to catch large bass at Block Island with eels, particularly at night.” said Tom Giddings of the Tackle Box, Warwick. East End Eddie Doherty said, “Cape Cod Canal fishing is spotty with no blitz. Alex Correia of Marlboro, caught a 46-inch striped bass on a bunker imitation soft plastic jig…A couple of slots were landed on top water plugs in the same vicinity the next day. Henry Meng from Lowell caught a hard fighting 29-inch slot fish on his very first cast.”

“Lots of school bass to slot size are being caught in Rhode Island salt ponds and off the breachways in South County. Much larger fish are out at local reefs and at Block Island.  Live eels remains the top producer for large bass but they are also being caught trolling or casting lures.” said Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown.

Summer flounder (fluke), black sea bass and scup. The fluke bite off Block Island was not great this weekend as anglers fishing the Block Island Inshore Fishing Tournament had difficulty hooking up with keeper summer flounder fluke. The first place fluke caught in the tournament was a 24.5-inch summer flounder caught by the Green Mountain Boys team who also took the first place team prize, tied with two others. 

“The scup bite in the Bay for 13 to 18-inch fish is outstanding. Anglers are hooking up at Conimicut Point and the Rocky Point Fishing Pier. Summer flounder is being caught at the Newport and Jamestown bridges and off Newport where a 14-pound and a 16-pound fish were caught last week,” said Tom Giddings of the Tackle Box.

Elisa Cahill of Snug Harbor Marina said, “Fluke fishing is actually much better along the coastal shore than out a Block Island. For the time being I would suggest fishing closer to shore.”

“Reports on fluke fishing have been mixed locally with some people doing well locally and others struggling to find the fish … you still need to work to find the fish,” said Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle.

“Freshwater fishing is now down deep due to warm water with angles using drop shot to get down. If I had the time I would be surface fishing at night because these fish have to eat,” said Tom Giddings of the Tackle Box.

Dave Monti holds a captain’s master license and charter fishing license. He serves on a variety of boards and commissions and has a consulting business focusing on clean oceans, habitat preservation, conservation, renewable energy, and fisheries